In All the Thunder

Chapter Fourteen: The Stressful Life of Lorena Fawcett

~*~

Lorena was sipping on some coffee as she walked through the auditorium of the Ministry of Magic. She was wearing normal black robes with red trimming. It had been a nice, warm day. She had gotten up to the sound of birds chirping. She'd taken a refreshing shower and had eaten a bagel. Now, she was having her morning coffee. That was her ritual every morning, at least.

"Good morning, Miss Fawcett," an Auror, Kingsley Shacklebolt, said as he passed her.

"Good morning, Mr. Shacklebolt," Lorena simply replied like she did every morning to every other person she met that she knew by name. He stopped suddenly, which she was not used to, so she stopped. She took the cup of coffee away from her lips slowly. He seemed to be holding something back. He then seemed to notice that she was examining him, like she did many others.

"There are about eleven new cases flooding through your part of the Department this morning," Kingsley told her. But she knew that was not the only thing going on through his mind. Surely, there was something more than what he was telling her. He appeared hesitant and unsure. "It's already causing a lot of problems so I suggest your hurry up there."

"It's because of the attack in the Department of Mysteries last week, isn't it," Lorena said in a matter-of-fact tone. He blinked at her, appearing to be slightly taken aback at her frankness. She'd learned to get to the point very quickly over the years. No one had bothered to beat around the bush when it came to her so she never did it to anyone else. Hesitating again, he nodded his head.

"Yes, the cases of the Death Eaters that were caught," Kingsley replied.

"They're actually trying them?" Lorena said immediately, surprised. He nodded his head. She smirked and shook her head. "Have they flanked themselves with barristers already?" He nodded his head again. She gave a hollow laugh and smiled. "I should've known. They get caught red-handed and our justice system still allows them to lie in court about their innocence."

"So you don't believe them?" Kingsley asked her. She shook her head. "But you haven't even heard their side of the case! How can you condemn them already?"

"Do you believe them?" Lorena asked coolly, still smiling. Kingsley didn't answer her, but gave her a dark look that she took as a 'no' immediately. "I just know these things, all right? I've always been able to judge people correctly."

Well, with the gigantic exception of Sirius, Lorena thought, but then again... Krystyna said he was innocent and framed. Fourteen years and I still don't know what to think. I'm a lost case.

"Right," Kingsley grumbled. "Well, you better get going. Your people are going crazy without you. They are all in a frenzy."

"They're always that way when I'm gone." Lorena gave another hollow laugh. Kingsley gave her quick and nervous smile. "Good day."

"Good day, Miss Fawcett," Kingsley said; and he was off. Lorena sighed and took another sip of her hot coffee. There was nothing like a good amaretto coffee to wake her up in the morning. She snorted at that declaration as she entered the elevator to go to her district of the Magical Law Enforcement Department.

Madam Bones would have her arse if she did nothing about the increasing problems and frets in her part of the Department. After Cornelius Fudge's very public acknowledgement of the second rising of Voldemort, tribulations would popping up out of nowhere. Sightings of escaped Azkaban prisoners were making the whole Department go haywire. Flying notes nearly took off people's heads in the hallways since they were going to fast. And here Lorena was, nodding her head and muttering under her breath that they should have believed young Harry Potter one year ago.

"None of this bloody crap would've happened then, stupid prat," Lorena mumbled right before the elevator door opened on a different floor. Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Department, stepped inside the elevator, appearing to be in a hurry.

"'Morning Mr. Weasley, sir," Lorena greeted, sipping on her coffee. Arthur nearly jumped out of his socks; he spun around to face her, startled very much. He hadn't noticed her leaning against the wall of the elevator. She smiled at him and took another small sip of her coffee. It was still very hot. The tips of his ears turned red, a trademark passed down to all Weasleys, Lorena was sure.

"Oh, good morning, Miss Fawcett," Arthur replied, giving her an embarrassed smile. He didn't push any buttons, and she supposed that he was going to same floor as she was, remembering that his office was on the same floor as hers.

"Are your son and daughter doing any better now that they're back home?" Lorena asked politely. "Ron and Ginny, am I right?"

"Oh, yes, yes, you're right; and yes, they're doing better," Arthur said quickly, nodding his head. "They really missed home a lot. Thank you for asking."

"Well, they did a very brave thing," Lorena told him. She looked at him, hard. His tone seemed a little sad, but maybe she had just heard him wrong. Maybe something else was wrong. She wanted to press the matter, but she knew it wasn't her place. She kept her mouth silent on that matter. She decided to take a different route she never usually detoured on. It was safer now then it was a week ago.

"I think it knocked some sense in the Ministry," Lorena said. "Maybe we'll get a new Minister finally. Fudge has lost his touch. Telling all of us that Albus Dumbledore has gone mad and Harry Potter is an attention-seeking boy was very low. He doesn't deserve to be in such a high position anymore."

Arthur seemed to turn a bit brighter when she said this. He even allowed a small smile. "Well, I'm glad someone around here thinks so, too," he said, rather happily. "I thought I was alone on this."

Lorena gave a real laugh. She leaned in and admitted, "I think you'll come to find that there a lot more people in this place that thought you were very right to side with who you did." She straightened up as the bell of the elevator rang. They were on their level now, the Magical Law Enforcement Department. He nodded his head at her. "Please tell your wife, Molly, that I said hello when you get the chance. And tell Ron and Ginny that they did a very great thing for this place. Good day."

"Good day, Miss Fawcett, and thank you," Arthur called as he turned right and she turned left. She simply inclined her head and turned back around. Arthur Weasley was a very nice man; and he was smarter than people gave him credit for. Lorena sipped on her cooled down coffee. It was much better now that she could drink more of it. She headed to her section of the Department with little trepidation.

Lorena was almost to her office when she rounded a corner and bumped into the last person on earth she expected to ever see again - Severus Snape. She hadn't even known him when she first bumped into him, but after gawking at him for a good thirty seconds (he looked very out of place, really) with him gaping back at her, she recognized him.

"Severus Snape, what a" - very unpleasant - "surprise to see you here. What brings you to this neck of the woods? I daresay, I thought you wouldn't even be caught dead in this place."

Lorena saw that the edges of Snape's thin mouth twitched; she suppressed a small smirk. He glowered at her. Ah, now he looked like he did five years ago, when she last saw him in The Leaky Cauldron. She let a small smile spread across her lips.

"I wanted to see you for a minute, Miss Fawcett," he simply told her.

So I'm Miss Fawcett to him, too? Oh, geez. What now? Lorena thought, exasperated. What was it with these people looking worried? They needed to calm down. Since she wasn't used to seeing Snape look the least bit worried, she knew that there must be something very wrong. Maybe he suspects that I helped Sirius escape Azkaban. She fought the urge to snort and shake her head at herself. Yes, that's exactly what he thinks. All this work is going to my head and making me go mad.

"And why would you want to see me?" Lorena asked coolly.

"Don't take Antonin Dolohov's case," Snape ordered bluntly, giving her the hardest of glares she'd been given in a long time. Normally, she would glare back, but she was too taken aback.

"What?" Lorena replied, raising her eyebrows. Her calm demeanour had been cracked. She felt alarmed and alert once again. "What's this about An--Dolohov?"

Snape gave her a suspicious look, most likely because of her slip. Lorena cursed herself in her mind, but she was too preoccupied with other things to think about it. She had known Antonin Dolohov personally when she was younger; he'd been Lucius's best friend up until right before seventh year. Lorena did not want to recount why their friendship had been damaged so severely.

"He's been caught again," Snape muttered. "He was in on the attack in the Department of Mysteries."

Lorena frowned at this. "Oh, really? Interesting."

"Don't take his case."

"And why not?" Lorena demanded. She took another sip of her coffee. "I think I'd like to try him and make sure he gets his soul sucked out this time," she added angrily. Snape flinched visibly at the coldness of her words. Lorena wasn't really sure that she wanted to do that, but she had also been left on bad terms when it came to their last meeting.

"There will be others that you want to prosecute more," Snape said quietly. Lorena looked at him hard, but he didn't change. He gave her a cold look. "So you will not take his case?"

Lorena growled; she hated relenting, but she was curious about what he told her just now. "All right, I won't take his case. I'm sure I'll get other chances to sentence my other past friends to life in Azkaban for a second time."

"Then I shall be off now," Snape replied, straightening up. The edges of his lips twitched again as he looked away from her and muttered, "Good day."

"Whatever, good day, blah, blah, blah," Lorena said, rolling her eyes as he brushed past her. She hadn't seen him for five years and then he just shows up, telling her what to do. Well, he had high expectations. She was sure to take Antonin Bloody Dolohov's case now, just to irk him. She snorted and walked into the lawyer district of the Department. Truth be told, it was a complete mess.

"Lorena Fawcett, for being the Chief Prosecutor, you sure don't act like it!" her former boss, Evan Brooks, shouted at her. Lorena smiled at him. "Where have you been? The place is a disaster site!"

"I was accosted by three people this morning, but I'm here now so please, calm down, Brooks," Lorena answered with the smile still on her face. He took the smile as he sign of teasing so he stomped away from her. She sighed and put a checkmark on her mental To-Do list, Check: Annoy Former Boss.

Lorena walked into her office and tossed her empty coffee cup in the trash without looking. Riley Connors, her personal assistant, ran up to her, nearly tripping in her high heels.

"Lorena, the entire place has been in shambles all morning without you here!" Riley exclaimed, standing up straight with a pink tinge in her cheeks. Lorena knew that it was from running all over the place and not from embarrassment because she tripped. Riley was panting. "A whole bunch of high-profile cases came up to the Court District early this morning and since then, everyone's been running around, trying to figure out what cases they are and who gets what! That attack in the Department of Mysteries has everyone dashing around and acting like maniacs!"

Riley was now twenty-three, very energetic, and excitable. She was a pretty girl, and Lorena was sure that she was a half blood, although she'd never bothered to ask. It didn't matter to Lorena, of course, but she just knew these things. When she had first met Riley three years ago, she'd snorted because she knew that her parents wouldn't be happy with anything less than a pureblood assistant.

Lorena waved Riley's panic off dismissively. "They don't know whose cases they are?" she asked.

"No! That's the problem!" Riley exclaimed. "They're such high-profile cases that you're the only one who can open them!"

This finally caught Lorena's attention as she raised her eyebrows. "Really, they can't open them?" she asked again. Riley took a deep breath and shook her head furiously. Lorena dropped her eyebrows. "Hm, that's interesting. They really are the cases of the Death Eaters that were involved in the fight in Department of Mysteries."

"What? How do you know that?" Riley asked curiously.

"I ran into Kingsley Shacklebolt before I got here," Lorena replied, mentally adding, And Arthur Weasley and Severus Snape. She continued out loud, "He told me that this place was going crazy and because of the Death Eaters' cases. They do send them here after they look over them briefly."

"Kingsley Shacklebolt?" Riley repeated. Lorena sighed and nodded her head, knowing exactly what Riley was about to say. "Isn't he the Auror that's the head of the Sirius Black hunt?"

"Yes," Lorena said grudgingly, "now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go open up those cases so everyone can breathe and then panic once again."

"Oh, certainly, Miss-"

"Lorena."

"Oh, sorry - certainly, Lorena," Riley corrected, smiling sheepishly. As they walked to the room that held the new cases, Riley filled in Lorena, "You've gotten twenty-six notes this morning before you got here."

Oh, great. Who do they think I am? What do they think I am? A mail box? Lorena thought.

"Who're they from?" Lorena asked dully.

Riley pulled up her notebook and looked at it. She began to read off of it, "Let's see... Well, four of them were from Evan Brooks, of course, complaining about your absence; six were from a six different Aurors about six different cases; one was actually a Howler from Mrs. Willows, shouting about your trial against her son; two were from your brothers, one from Nathan and one from Brandon; one was from a Severus Snape; five were from Madam Bones, something about the new cases, I think; one was anonymous, maybe another admirer; one was from a Narcissa Malfoy; one was from Matthew; three were from three other prosecutors; and one was from your mother, Ana Fawcett."

"Good heavens," Lorena mumbled as she opened the door to the New Indictments Room. All of the new cases were sent to this room. It was quiet, unlike every other room in the Court District of the Department and empty. There were piles of paper all over the place and twelve thick folders sitting neatly on a table.

"This must be a record," Riley blurted. She gave a low whistle. "Twenty-six notes! I thought it was a giant migration of flying notes or something! The Owl Sorters must have gone crazy seeing your name written on those notes so many times."

"I can't believe my mum actually owled me," Lorena said, walking over to the folders. She gave a bitter laugh. "I haven't talked to her since Nathan and Brandon graduated Hogwarts, which was six years ago."

"Maybe she wants to reconcile with you," Riley put in.

However, Lorena gave another laugh. "Reconcile with me, my arse! All she's ever done for me were giving me a few too many difficulties in my life." Lorena smiled bitterly again. "No, no, something happened with my dad, I reckon. Maybe he kicked the bucket finally."

"Maybe," Riley sighed with a shrug of her shoulders. "But what I'm wondering about is why Narcissa Malfoy would owl you."

"We're friends," Lorena answered almost immediately, fingering the folders. Riley raised her eyebrows at this, curiosity gleaming in her bright eyes. Lorena caught it. "Just because she's married to my idiotic cousin doesn't mean she's the same way as him."

"But...Brandon always told me that you didn't really like your cousin, Lucius, or Narcissa Black when you were at Hogwarts," Riley replied, sounding confused. Brandon, Lorena's younger brother who was now also twenty-three, had been dating Riley for little over a year now. Lorena grinned and looked up at Riley.

"I didn't, and they didn't like me too much either - at least, Narcissa didn't - but things change," Lorena explained calmly. "We grew up and out of our school time animosities. Sure, I still don't like Malfoy any more than I had when at Hogwarts, but Narcissa had a turnaround. Needless to say, we forged a nice friendship a decade back."

Lorena left out a few things in her explanation to Riley, of course. She left out the fact that at the time when she'd became friends with Narcissa, she'd had no friends. That wasn't really needed. It had been a month after her split with Remus that she had bumped into Narcissa Malfoy, formally Black. Things had clearly changed in both of them. She, too, had been feeling just as alone as Lorena had been, and things had been worked out from there. They'd been having lunch once a week since then - without the knowledge of Lucius Malfoy, of course.

"So maybe she just wants to set up a lunch date?" Riley asked.

"No," Lorena said, shaking her head, "we already had lunch this week and besides, she owls me at home or gives me a Floo call for that. No, it must be something else - something to do with work. Maybe..." Lorena shook her head at herself. Riley raised one eyebrow. "No, no, it can't be that. He's too slippery to have that happen to him."

"What?" Riley asked eagerly.

"Nothing of importance, Riley," Lorena told her. Riley frowned and then sighed. When Lorena had her mind set on things, it was hard to stray her away. Everyone knew that.

Lorena had turned her attention back to the thick, manila folders in front of her. She looked over the names on the top of the folders. Yes, these were definitely Death Eaters. She remembered them from the past and when their names had been printed in the Daily Prophet so many times after their notorious escapes from Azkaban.

No Sirius Black, Lorena noted in her mind. Thank goodness. Krystyna would be proud.

Lorena saw Antonin Dolohov's name on one of the folders. She fingered it for a few more seconds than she had the rest. She remembered what Severus Snape had said; he'd even owled her for the same reason most likely. She sighed and set Antonin Dolohov's folder back on the table. There must be another case that--

Lorena gasped and dropped the folder she had just picked up. It fell to the ground and a few papers slipped out of it. Riley quickly bent down to gather the papers, forgetting her wand and her boss. Lorena put her hand to her mouth, eyes very wide, and she stumbled backwards, finally backing up into the wall. It was becoming difficult for her to breath. Tears were filling up in her grey eyes. Not again - she didn't want to deal with it all again.

"Lorena, what is-" Riley cut herself off when she looked over at Lorena, who was now sliding down the wall, silent tears streaming down her face. "Lorena!" Riley left the folder on the ground and scrambled over to Lorena, who had her face in her arms that were perched on her knees. "Lorena, what's wrong?"

Lorena was still crying silently as she pointed an accusing finger at the folder that lay on the ground. Riley glanced at it and then looked back at Lorena. Not knowing what was wrong, Riley crawled over to the folder and picked it up. She looked at the name on the folder.

"Rodolphus Lestrange..." Riley murmured to herself. That earned a whimper from Lorena. Suddenly, bits of conversations she'd heard over the years smacked Riley over the head and it came to her. When Lorena was twenty during the First War, her house had been attacked by Death Eaters. Riley put two and two together and figured that Rodolphus Lestrange had been the head of the ambush.

"Oh, Lorena, I..." Words failed Riley so she did the only thing that came to mind. Riley dropped the folder back onto the ground, crawled back over to Lorena, and put her arms around the older woman. Lorena gave another sniff; she was calming down. Riley bit her lip; she had never seen Lorena cry, much less just look a bit shaken. Lorena had always kept her cool demeanour or one that always gave her the look of control. This was a very different Lorena Fawcett that Riley was used to.

And suddenly, as soon as she began, Lorena stopped. She stopped crying all together. Riley pulled herself away from her boss and sat down on her knees. Lorena pulled her head up, eyes red and puffy, and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and put her head back against the wall. She took another deep breath.

It had been so long ago, but Lorena still couldn't pull herself away from the pure terror she'd felt that night. She had been through a lot before, but that had been an indescribable horror. She'd stopped having those nightmares about the Muggle Alley when she was twelve; she'd started having nightmares about the attack on her house. Lorena tried to shake the moment off. That was fifteen years ago. She had to get over it; she had to get over her fear.

She had nearly died of terror when she found out Rodolphus Lestrange, head of the attack, had escaped Azkaban last year. But he was caught again. He was going to get thrown into Azkaban; and he wouldn't be able to kill her.

But he'll get out, just like he did last year, a voice nagged. The Dementors are leaving Azkaban; you know that. He'll escape again. And then, he'll find you.

Lorena pushed the horrible thought out of her mind and pushed herself back to her feet with the help of a very worried Riley.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Riley asked, concerned.

"Yes, Riley, I'm fine--just a little shaken," Lorena told her impatiently. Riley looked ready to snort, but she held it in. Lorena glanced at the folder on the floor again; Riley picked it up and set it back onto the table at the very end. Lorena recomposed herself quickly. She glanced at the next folder--Walden McNair.

What a name! Lorena thought with an inward laugh. I bet it suites him just fine. Hey, wait; isn't he that bloke that was sent to Hogwarts to behead a hippogriff? Yeah, that is him. Wow, Voldemort will pick any bloke off the street, won't he.

Lorena put McNair's folder back and then looked at the other ones. She saw that Augustus Rookwood had been caught again. This time, she actually snorted out loud. She had been the one to put him away the first time. She doubted that he would be very pleased to see her again, although she wouldn't be very pleased to see him again either. She didn't want to. Then, she glowered at his folder. It had been all thanks to the Rookwood case that Sara Whitfield, one of Lorena's friends, had been kidnapped and killed fifteen years ago.

Back to Azkaban with you, Rookwood, you sod! Lorena thought viciously when she slammed his folder back onto the table. Riley gave a little jump in surprise.

Lorena looked at the rest of the cases. There was Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange's one year younger brother. There was Branson Nott. Lorena could vaguely remember him coming to the Malfoy Manor when she was a young teenage girl; he was an older man. She remembered being creeped out by him and always hid away in her bedroom when he came. Then, there was Eleanor Chavez; she had been one of Lorena's old associates from the International Department years ago.

But the name on the last folder got Lorena's attention so much that she dropped the folder onto the floor once again. Riley was ready to comfort Lorena again when she did something much unexpected.

"Bloody hell!" Lorena shouted, gawking at the folder on the floor. "How in the name of all things Gryffindor did this happen?! Good gods! Bloody, bloody, bloody hell!"

"What? What's wrong? What is it?" Riley questioned, excited. She was about to pick up the folder when Lorena bent down and snatched it up before she could. Lorena tore the folder open and flipped through the papers inside very hastily. Riley peered at the name and her eyes widened. "Merlin's beard!"

"I know, I know!" Lorena exclaimed. She closed the folder up and held it in her hand tightly. She smirked and then laughed as they looked upon the folder in amazement. "Lucius Malfoy, my cousin! I can't believe he actually got caught! I can't believe he was actually in on the attack in the Department of Mysteries! He never does that kind of stuff. Bloody hell, I never thought I'd live to see the day. I always thought Brooks would hack my head off because he was angry at me before Malfoy would get caught."

"Too bad you can't try him; I mean, it clashes with Court Justice Decree 11," Riley ground out sadly. "You're related to him so therefore, you can't try him."

"Ah, but that's what you think," Lorena said mischievously with a sly wink. Riley raised her eyebrows. "I can be the one to try him. This is a seriously high-profile case; I'm guessing Code Green."

"You really think Lucius Malfoy's a Code Green?" Riley asked. Lorena nodded her head. "I thought he'd be more of a Code Orange."

But Lorena shook her head. "No way, that's too low; I'm might even say he's a Code Red," she explained calmly. Riley gave her a dubious, yet excited, look. "Every time you see Cornelius Bloody Fudge, who do you see next to him?"

"Lucius Malfoy," Riley replied.

"Every time there had been another hint that Voldemort" - Riley flinched - "had risen a second time, who was the one that helped convince Fudge otherwise?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

"When it first came to our knowledge that Voldemort" - Riley flinched again - "had supposedly risen again, who was the one to first come in contact with Fudge here?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

"When that interview with Harry Potter came out in The Quibbler a few months ago, who was the one that argued right next to Fudge that it was preposterous--whose name was also being dirtied in that interview?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

"Who had been trying to slip in Harry Potter's hearing last year - and possibly trying to sneak into the Department of Mysteries, now that I think about it?"

"Lucius Malfoy."

"And finally," Lorena said with a triumphant smirk on her face, "who was the one that has been slipping gold into Fudge's and the Ministry's pockets under the table--to earn favour of Fudge?"

"Lucius Malfoy," Riley answered. It had dawned on her. "Wow, he is a Code Green and maybe even a Code Red. This is totally damaging to the Ministry! Fudge has been dealing and associating closely with one of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters! This is a bunch of ghastly publicity for the Ministry of Magic."

"Too right," Lorena agreed, nodding her head, "which means only one thing."

"And that is?" Riley asked.

"That it's such a high profile case that it fits into Court Justice Decree 12," Lorena declared. "Anyone close to the Minister of Magic in such a troublesome case will be difficult enough to prosecute. If this case turns out to be a Code Red, then only the Chief Prosecutor may try the person. That means I will be the only one allowed to take Malfoy to court."

"Whoa, you're right," Riley said. She gave another low whistle. She glanced at the folder still held tightly in Lorena's hand. She looked back at Lorena and gave a rueful smile. "I take it you're going to take his case."

"You bet your arse I am!" Lorena exclaimed, waving the folder around. Riley chuckled. "Now, come on, we have to let everyone know that the cases are open."

Riley nodded her head and together, they walked out of the room. As soon as Lorena closed the door, they were stopped by a mob of rowdy lawyers, demanding if the cases had been opened up. When Lorena told them the cases were, indeed, finally opened, the other lawyers shoved their way into the room.

"Hey, Riley!" Lorena shouted over the noise. She had turned around the face the younger girl, who was standing stock still in the rushing mob; they had gotten separated. Riley looked over at Lorena.

"Yes?" Riley shouted back.

"Make sure that Jace Newton gets the Rodolphus Lestrange case!" Lorena told her. Riley nodded her head and started to push her way into the room. Lorena added quietly to herself, "I don't want anyone else to get it. I want to make sure that he goes away for good."

Jace Newton was around Lorena's age - about two years her senior. He was under her by just one rank and the second best prosecuting lawyer around (Lorena being the first, obviously). He would get the job done quickly and precisely the way both he and she wanted. He'd only lost a few cases since he became a lawyer a decade back. He had an impressive record in court and an even more impressive record in popularity. He was the "teenage Sirius" of the Court District.

Lorena chortled to herself as she walked into her office. But the first thing she did as soon as she opened the door was drop to the floor. A few flying notes nearly took her head off. She closed the door, still lying on the ground, and crawled over to her desk. She pulled herself into her seat and brought out her wand. Four notes began attacking her. She snatched them all, seeing that they were from Evan Brooks.

"Stupid prat," Lorena grumbled. "He charmed them so they would try to kill me."

Lorena opened them all up, glanced at them quickly, and then trashed them. Six notes immediately fluttered over to her, hovering right in front of her. They were obviously from the six Aurors as they weren't attacking her. She opened each one of them; each of them was telling her to take a certain case (three told her to take the Lucius Malfoy case). She threw all of them away after she was finished with them.

Lorena glanced at her desk and sighed with frustration. It appeared as if the Howler from Mrs. Willows had not been opened this morning. Riley had probably not been here yet. The Howler had obviously exploded at Lorena's office instead of the real Lorena because there was a threatening sentence burned in her desk.

Don't mess with us, you foolish-

"Ooh, what lovely, colourful language." Lorena's eyes widened at that last word, which she didn't want burned on her desk. Her clients and the rest of her colleagues might take offence to it. She did a few spells and the burn disappeared, thankfully.

The note from Severus Snape started circling her over her head. It evaded her after a few attempts of trying to catch it, but on the fourth try, she snatched it. She began to open it up.

James would've caught it easily, Lorena thought as she began scanning the note. Stupid note was just like the Golden Snitch. Being a Chaser was my forte, not a Seeker.

The note from Snape told her the same exact thing the real Snape had told her earlier this morning, 'Don't take the Antonin Dolohov case.' Well, she hadn't so he would be happy. She was about to throw away the note like the rest when she stopped. How did he know about Dolohov's case anyway? How did he know that she would rather like to take a different case - Malfoy's case? She thought about it and then tossed the note. When she started gathering witnesses, she would call him up and interrogate him about it then.

The five notes from Madam Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, flew over to her. All five of them fell into a neat pile on the desk in front of Lorena. She took each one of them up and read them carefully. They all said the same thing, 'The Lucius Malfoy case is a Code Red, which means that you must take it,' and a few more things that concerned the case. They also added that Madam Bones was sorry that Lorena had to take her cousin's case. Lorena snorted as she looked over at the thick folder on her desk. She threw the notes away.

The note from Matthew, her "date" last night, twitchily flew in front of Lorena's face. She grabbed it and opened it up. She scanned over the note quickly, seeing that he was just asking her out again. Did they ever get the clue? She wasn't in the mood to date. Lorena sighed as she tossed the note away, remembering that she forgot to strangle Riley for setting her up with yet another bloke last night.

The notes from Brandon and Nathan flew at her at the same time and accidentally smashed into each other, falling onto her desk. Lorena smiled happily as she picked up Nathan's letter. Two tickets fell out of the envelope. She picked them up and looked at them when excitement rose up inside her chest. She nearly bounced out of her chair.

"Way to go, Nathan!" Lorena exclaimed exuberantly, grinning madly at the note. She set the two tickets down and read the note thoroughly.

Nathan had taken after Lorena and became a Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team in his Second Year at Hogwarts (both he and Brandon had gotten sorted into Gryffindor, much to their parents' dismay and Lorena's glee). When they got out of Hogwarts, Brandon had gone to work in the Department of Magical Games and Sports while Nathan had set out to become a professional Chaser. And although all three of them - Lorena, Brandon, and Nathan - shared a fondness of the Chudley Cannons, Nathan had landed himself on the Wibourne Wasps Quidditch team, which Lorena was very proud of. Brandon had been the one to get Nathan on the team.

Now, the Wibourne Wasps were going to the Quidditch Tournament. Lorena could tell that Nathan was very excited about it all; his normally neat handwriting was messy. He'd given her three tickets to the Tournament, which Lorena liked a lot. She pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote him a small letter of congratulations and thanks; these were top box tickets. People killed for these tickets - literally (she'd gotten a case like that before a few years back). When Lorena finished the hasty letter, she charmed it to fly to the Owl Sorting Room where all letters that went in and out of the Ministry of Magic came.

Lorena put Nathan's letter in a drawer of her desk and then picked up Brandon's letter. She opened it up to see that he, too, had found out about the Quidditch Tournament; two more box office tickets fell out of his envelope. After grinning like an idiot, she scooped the tickets up and put them in a safe place.

She smiled when she read that Brandon was planning on asking Riley to marry him. She swelled up with pride to see that her little brother had grown up to be a wonderful young man and was going to get married before her. Lorena wrote an encouraging letter to Brandon with a few other things and sent it to follow the letter she wrote to Nathan.

The three notes from Lorena's colleagues were flapping around the room haphazardly. When she finally got them, she scanned through them. They were old, telling her to open the cases. She tossed them away in the trash along with the rest.

She saw the note from the supposed "admirer" (Lorena gagged) flying around. However, when Lorena opened the note, she was stunned by confusion.

In the envelope was a blank piece of parchment; and that was it.

Lorena looked at it intently, but there was nothing on the front. She looked in the envelope--nothing. When she turned the paper over, she saw that there was nothing on it. Lorena sat it back down on her desk and stared at it. She stuck a quill in her mouth and bit on it. She took the quill out of her mouth and gagged when she tasted ink. She'd chewed on her Automatic Ink Replenishing Quill. She frowned at the blank parchment and then got an idea.

She scribbled on the paper: Lorena Cassandra Fawcett.

Lorena had always hated her middle name, but her mother insisted that it had been her great grandmother's name and that it was beautiful. When a little girl before she went to Hogwarts, Lorena would whine that it did not fit with the rest of her name and then got punished for it. In her Fifth Year, she had traced her family tree back for a school project and found that she had never had a grandmother with the first name, Cassandra. Her mother had made a mistake of some sort. Lorena still didn't know the true reason as to why she'd been given such a horrible name.

Much to Lorena's amazement and confusion, a printed writing in black ink began to appear underneath her name. It was only one sentence and that was it. It read:

When you are ready, everything will come to you.

Lorena frowned and sighed at the sentence. She testily thought, I am ready, you bloody piece of paper! But nothing happened. She wrote that she was ready, but nothing else happened. Apparently, the parchment didn't believe her. Lorena looked at the paper. Whatever it was, it had to be big. She pulled open a different drawer and tucked the parchment away until a time when "she was ready."

Lorena looked around her office. She was supposed to have two notes left--one from Narcissa and the other from her mother--but Lorena only saw one. She raised her hand and the note flew right into her grasp as if it had been called. It was Narcissa's letter. Her mother's was hiding at the moment. However, Lorena didn't really care. On the envelope, Narcissa had scrawled Lorena's name in her usual elegant handwriting.

Lorena slit the envelope open and pulled the letter out. Yes, it was Narcissa's handwriting alright. Lorena could recognize it a mile away; it was very pretty. She leaned in her chair and read it. Lorena could detect a bit of nervousness in the letter, which was unusual, but she could tell that Narcissa had kept her calm while writing the letter.

"She knew that I'd take her husband's case," Lorena said to herself, realization dawning on her. She stood up as she tucked the letter in the depths of the pocket of her robes. Narcissa wanted to meet her for an early lunch today at the little café in Diagon Alley (Lorena remembered it as the one where she had been tortured by Brendan Hemmingway, Lucius's friend, when she was seventeen).

Whether the point of the meeting was to try and talk Lorena out of trying Malfoy or not, Lorena wasn't really sure. Whatever it was, she had to be there. It was very important. She walked out of her office; she'd deal with the letter from her mother later.

"Where are you going?" Riley had come back from the New Indictments Room.

"I have to meet Narcissa right now," Lorena answered candidly. Riley looked taken aback. Lorena didn't know why; after three years, Riley should've known that she was normally honest and frank when it came to such things.

"But...the Malfoy case!" Riley burst out.

Lorena stopped and turned around to face Riley, who looked helpless.

"This has something to do with the Malfoy case," Lorena explained calmly. "I'm sure she wants to talk about the charges brought up against her husband. I'll question her--get some information out of her. She knew that I would take his case immediately. I can still work, even if I'm not at work."

"Oh," was all Riley could say. There was a moment of silence until Riley asked, "Do you want me to go tell anyone, like Madam Bones? I'm sure she wants updates on the case. It is a Code Red case, after all, right? I assume that those notes from Madam Bones were about it."

Lorena nodded her head. "Yes, it's a Code Red case," she replied, "but no, don't tell anyone. I don't want Madam Bones to have any updates unless I have something firm and direct on Malfoy. It wouldn't be good to give her questioning evidence on such a high-status case."

"Oh, yeah, that's true," Riley mumbled, looking a little humiliated this time. "What do you want me to do in the meantime?"

"Try to find the note from my mother," Lorena told her. "It hid itself in my office somewhere."

The younger girl gave Lorena a short nod. "Okay, Lorena, I'll do that."

"In the meantime, I'm going to have an early lunch and chat with Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy," Lorena said. She told Riley what café it was, just in case, and bid the younger girl goodbye. Riley said goodbye back and went to find that note from Ana Fawcett. Lorena walked into the elevator and when the doors closed, she leaned against the wall.

It was just eleven o'clock in the morning and things were already turning her world upside down. She was just waiting for Remus Lupin to be standing in front of her when the elevator doors opened. Luckily, when they did open, he was not standing there and she left the Ministry of Magic, feeling a little disappointed that he had not been there.